A web browser is an application program that enables a user to view and interact with information on the Internet. A web browser typically uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to make requests to web servers on the Internet on behalf of a browser user. Known web browsers include, for example, Microsoft® Internet Explorer (IE), Netscape® Navigator, Opera browser, Firefox browser and Lynx browser. Each web browser is associated with a set of browser data that includes, for example, bookmarks, security settings, general settings, links to pages visited by a user, a home page, cookie settings, user interface (UI) elements (e.g., toolbar positions and visibility), etc.
Web browsers are widely used in the workplace and are sometimes governed by a company policy with respect to web access. To prevent employees from visiting certain websites, some companies install an access control filter on a web proxy. The web proxy is typically located at a gateway computer connecting the company's network to the Internet. The web proxy controls the ingress and egress of the Internet traffic for the company's network. Thus, an employee's request to access a website can be checked by the filter to determine whether the request should be prohibited. In an enterprise that has a large number of employees and/or multiple geographical locations, it is often necessary to install multiple proxies to perform the access control. Ensuring consistencies across the multiple proxies and their associated filters can become a daunting task.
Web browsers are also widely used by individuals for personal use or for work-related purposes. The current browsers do not provide a user-friendly and effective interface to control access to particular websites for a user who wishes to avoid visiting particular websites. For example, a user may dislike any websites that have an animated talking figure. When using a search engine to generate a search result that includes multiple links, the user may fail to recognize, from the title of the links, that these links point to websites that he visited before but would never want to visit again (e.g., websites that have an animated talking figure). Unintentional and repeated access to these unwanted websites can be frustrating.